Mobile Apps and App Stores: Good Open Source Citizens?

The mobile revolution is driving an explosion of mobile apps and app stores. Open source is playing a key role in this growing domain – with open source mobile operating systems, frameworks, tools and applications. As both global brands and individual developers increasingly leverage open source software, the issue of compliance with open source licenses is becoming more visible.

The Free Software Foundation position is that iTunes and GPL are incompatible. This has already resulted in the removal of at least one GPL app from the iTunes store, yet this problem is just the tip of the iceberg and is not limited to the GPL license or the iTunes store.

This session will present research by OpenLogic that examines the extent of open source use in mobile apps and the level of compliance with open source licenses. We’ll present data from hundreds of the most popular apps on both Android and iPhone platforms. In addition, we’ll discuss the implications for developers and open source projects and communities. We’ll also share some thoughts on the road to helping mobile apps become good open source citizens.

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Kim Weins

OpenLogic

Kim Weins is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Products at OpenLogic, an open source provider focused on helping enterprises successfully and safely use open source software. Kim works with large enterprises to share open source governance and compliance best practices and to evangelize the benefits of using open source software. Kim helps to shape OpenLogic’s pioneering open source offerings, including an aggregated support model backed by open source developers, open source scanning and governance tools and services that guide companies through compliance with GPL and other open source licenses.